


The World Spins Madly On

by Abbie



Series: Leave Out All the Rest [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Amnesia, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Team Arrow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-09 23:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1152021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbie/pseuds/Abbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy, Felicity, and Diggle reel from the news that Oliver has forgotten over six years of memory, and make plans about how to deal with an Oliver who doesn't remember being the Arrow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The World Spins Madly On

Everything moved very quickly.

Felicity, Tommy, and Diggle were herded back to the waiting room when the doctors were alerted that Oliver was awake—and that something seemed very, very wrong.

Tommy had called Thea, and she and Moira had returned to the hospital, post haste.

It was some hours before the three in the waiting room learned more. Felicity took that time to contact QC’s press and public relations department, ordering them to release a very careful and vague statement that Oliver had been involved in a minor traffic accident and was being treated for non-threatening injuries sustained in the crash at an unnamed medical facility. From there, she set to the Herculean task of rearranging Oliver’s schedule for the rest of the week, cancelling, rescheduling, and delegating as needed.

She suspected it would be more than a few days before Oliver could step back into the role of CEO.

Some time later, it was Thea who remembered them and brought them the news.

“ _Amnesia_?” Tommy stared at her, uncomprehending, his voice ripped through with skepticism. “Like, soap opera plot device _amnesia_.”

Thea gave him a droll look, still looking a little shocky—and very tired—around the eyes. “ _Yes_ , like soap opera amnesia.” She turned away, hands going into her hair. “God, this is like some nutzoid practical joke. Stranded on an island, returned from the dead— _amnesia_? Oh my god.” Her hands slid down her neck, taking fistfuls of the collar of her designer tee shirt. “Our lives really _are_ a soap opera.”

"So he doesn’t remember, what… anything?" Diggle prompted, tentative but firm.

Thea locked onto his face like he was an anchor. “He thinks it’s March 2007.”

Tommy barked a strange noise that had no business calling itself a laugh. “So roughly _six months_ before he even got on the _Gambit_? He remembers… _nothing_. Holy. _Shit_.”

Felicity suddenly sank down into one of the plush armchairs, her knees just calling quits on her. Tommy turned and stared at her, but didn’t seem to really be seeing her. Slowly, Felicity lifted her gaze to meet John’s with a heavy look. He swallowed and nodded imperceptibly.

Her worries acknowledged, Felicity blinked rapidly and dropped her eyes to her hands. They lay in her lap, palm up, empty. “He has no idea who we are, then. Me and Diggle.”

Her quiet voice drew everyone’s attention in the momentarily hushed room. Tommy’s glance sharpened, and then he paled. Diggle stared grimly at the floor. Thea, blinking, drew her brows together and then winced sympathetically.

"No. God, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about that. I mean, um, I’m sure he’ll… he’ll _want_ to know who you are. Definitely. You guys can still see him.”

"Is that a good idea?" Digg asked solemnly. Thea turned to raise a brow at him, and he held steady, continuing, "About how well is he handling things right now?"

Thea jerked slightly like she’d been smacked. Eyelids fluttering, she looked away, fingers twisting together at her waist. “Uh.” She chuckled, brittle. “Not so great. He—he thought it was a joke. And then he just—he just got so scared, and pissed.” Her chin dropped, and she stared wide-eyed at the floor, a sheen of tears filming over the blue. “He didn’t recognize me. He was expecting twelve-year-old me, not… not _me_ , me. And—and then he did, sort of. And it clicked and he started freaking out and we had to leave.” She swallowed. “I think they sedated him. Mom’s talking with the nurse.”

Digg touched her arm gently, drawing a brave, if weak, smile from her. “Then probably Felicity and I should hold off for a while. We don’t want to overwhelm him any more than will already be necessary.”

"Right, thanks," Thea nodded, swiping a finger under her eye—and then she froze. "Than necessary… Oh, _god_ , we have to tell him about—about _Dad_ , _I have to tell him about Dad_.” She whirled, eyes large and expression that of a lost little girl as she looked to Tommy. “ _How_ am I gonna tell him about Dad?”

Thea’s voice broke on the last word and Tommy swooped forward, gathering her to him and setting his chin on top of her head. Swallowing, he kissed her hair and rocked from foot to foot, holding her as she clung to his shoulders. “Hey. We’re gonna get through this, alright? You’re not doing this alone. He still remembers me, maybe me being there can—can soften the blow.” Thea’s arms squeezed tighter around his torso, and he squeezed back just as fiercely. Finally, he pulled back a little from her, just enough to look seriously into her face, thumbs bracketing her temples, stroking back her hair. “Thea, I swear to you, this is _not_ six years ago. You are _not_ doing this alone.”

Wetting her lips nervously and feeling a little like she was intruding on a private moment, Felicity stood up again and stepped towards Tommy and Thea. “I—I don’t mean to butt in, but… for what it’s worth, I’m around if, if you need me. I mean, not that you’d need _me_ , you barely know me, but… if there’s anything I can do, anything at all, or—or anything, just…” She sucked in a deep breath, counted back silently from three. “Tommy has my number. You can get it from him if you ever need it, or want it, or whatever.”

Thea blinked at her, then gently extricated herself from Tommy’s embrace. Smiling bemusedly at Felicity, she wiped the damp tracks from her cheeks. “Thanks. That’s really sweet. I will… definitely keep you in mind.”

Felicity smiled back at her, both of them wavering and unmoored.

Diggle cleared his throat softly behind Thea, who turned to him. “You should get back to your family. Felicity and I will take care of things at Queen Consolidated.” His chin lowered a fraction more and his eyebrows went stern. “I know you have my number, so don’t hesitate if you need a ride or an escort or anything. I’ll be posting a couple of men on Oliver’s door.” Thea looked at him dubiously, and he smiled, tired. “Last thing you all need right now is a press break-in to Oliver’s room.” He canted his head in Felicity’s direction. “We’ll do what we can for now, but this story won’t sleep for long.”

Thea swallowed, paling even further, if it was possible. “Right. Thank you, I hadn’t even thought of that yet.” She pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh, shoulders slumping. “I’ll have to remind Mom to contact our PR people.”

Felicity falteringly raised her hand. “I’ve already got the department at QC on some mild damage control, so when you guys have connected with your, uh, people, just have them get in touch with the company side of things. I’ll make sure they’re prepared and will cooperate completely.”

Thea nodded sharply. “Thank you. I better go catch up with Mom.”

And then she turned and left, her black ballet flats quiet on the carpet.

—

When Thea was gone, the remaining three looked at each other, questioning and a bit lost, with a tightly controlled edge of panic.

Almost as one, they stepped closer together, forming up a closed circle of hushed voices and darting, watchful eyes.

"So, this is bad news," Tommy stated grimly, hands in his pockets. Felicity shot him a look for stating the obvious, and he merely grimaced. "Well, it is."

"Hell yeah it is," Diggle agreed, shaking his head. "He remembers… _nothing_ from his time on the island. Or after.”

"He doesn’t even remember getting on the damn _boat_ ,” Tommy ran a hand over his hair, staring towards the floor as he did some mental calculations. “March, 2007 is about six months before the gambit, actually. He and Laurel were dating, getting serious.” His eyes slowly screwed shut and his mouth opened in dismay. “Oh my god, Laurel. _Shit_. At some point he’s going to ask about her, maybe try to talk to her. I need to tell her about this.”

Felicity swallowed and drew in a deep breath, trying to master her ping-ponging thoughts and emotions. “Yeah, you should probably give her some advance warning.” Tommy looked at her, and she drew her shoulders in. “What, if _I_ had an ex-boyfriend with that kind of history who suddenly thought we were back in the days of sex and romance _,_ I’d want a heads up. To _avoid_ him. Wasn’t she really _not_ happy to see Oliver when he first came back? Imagine how much happier she’ll be to have the Oliver who was a few months away from setting the whole disaster in motion back.”

Tommy winced, but nodded. “Fair point. So, I guess that’ll be my job. And hanging around here, in case they need me.”

Digg nodded sharply. “Good, you can be our point of contact. Keep us in the loop.” Tommy looked at him questioningly, and John held his gaze, voice lowering further. “Felicity and I will need to get started on scrubbing all signs of Oliver’s double life from any place this… _previous_ version of him might wander into.” He switched his attention to Felicity, whose expression settled to serious determination. “I’ll take the manor. I know for a fact Oliver’s got all sorts of shit squirreled away around the house, especially his bedroom. Arrows, knives, I think maybe a stash of those weird herbs.”

Felicity nodded. “I’ll take the office. He’s got a few things there, and I’ll need to go through his computer—and his phone, actually. That’s probably here somewhere, but I can hack it.” John squinted at her a little, and she rolled her eyes. “Please, I’ve had remote access to both of your phones pretty much since Mrs. Queen shot him.”

Tommy snickered, shaking his head. “Every now and then, it’s really good to be reminded that you are a little bit _scary_ , Felicity.”

She smiled slyly at him. “Good. Keeps you on your toes.”

Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes at her, clearly wondering if she had remote access to his phone, too.

Hoping to avoid that question, Felicity clapped her hands together, spine straightening. “Right, so we all have our assignments. Things are about to get _really_ crazy, so we either meet up or all check in by phone by,” she pulled her cell out of her pocket to see the time—7:30 a.m. “by noon. And then again this evening.”

Diggle nodded. “Shit’s about to get a whole different kind of weird than even what we’re used to. It’s gonna be all hands on deck til we know exactly what we’re looking at ahead.”

Tommy nodded, feeling strange to be so included in this Team Arrow business. It wasn’t like he’d never helped the little vigilante crew out before, but he did usually try to avoid making a habit of it. This was something else, though. Something stranger and yet more domestic, and much, much bigger.

Suddenly, he pursed his lips and looked intently at Digg, then Felicity. “This is gonna sound mushy as all hell, and I apologize for that in advance, but I want you both to know what I said to Thea kind of extends to you two as well. We’ll get through this shit together, whatever the fuck this is.” One corner of his mouth tucked wryly, head canting to one side. “And I do realize that the offer of support for you guys comes with more secretive, possibly less legal strings attached. I still mean it.”

Diggle smiled at him, clearly amused, but ducked his head gratefully. “Thanks, man. That was touching.”

Tommy rolled his eyes and threw the older man a middle finger. John only chuckled.

Beside him, Felicity lightly touched his sleeve, and he found her smiling softly, something shuttered in her eyes. “Thanks, Tommy. Digg’s smartass commentary aside, it means a lot.”

Tommy smiled down at her, covering her hand on his arm with his own and squeezing. “You are entirely welcome.”

John rolled his eyes. “This is all very sweet, but let’s get out of her and do our jobs before we start group hugging, alright?”

Felicity laughed and stepped away from Tommy. “Aw, Digg, I’m hurt you don’t want to hug me.” He just snorted. “Anyways, I’ll catch up with you both later.” Sighing, she plucked at the front of her shirt. “I need to head home and change before I hit the office.”

Diggle walked towards the door, beckoning him after her. “You need to pick up your car anyways. Remember, I drove you here; I’ll drive you back. Come on.”

Tommy watched them leave, playful banter covering the nervous energy that rode both their shoulders. His smile faded as they turned the corner, and he sighed, trying in vain to hold on to that feeling of calm camaraderie just a little bit longer.

He suspected it was going to be a while before any of them felt like they were standing on solid ground again.


End file.
